Whitefish Pilot

The Whitefish All-Stars under-11 baseball team made some noise at the Jack Zerr Tournament at the Rollie and Heide Smith sports park over the weekend. Teams from Columbia Falls, Kalispell, Polson and Florence were represented in the three-day tourney.

Whitefish played well enough in the first two days of the event to grab the No. 5 seed in the bracket for the final day of play on Sunday before dropping the loser out game to No. 4 seed Kalispell NL 9-4.

Whitefish started off hot on the first day of the tournament with a 2-1 win over Kalispell AL, a mostly 12-year-old team. Down by one run in the fourth, Jed Nagler knocked a key base hit to get the rally going. Jesse Walburn then smacked an RBI single scoring Nagler from first. Later in the inning, Luke May would get wrapped up in a pickle, allowing Walburn to score for a 2-1 lead.

In the second game on Friday, Whitefish put on a defensive clinic against the Columbia Falls under-11 team.

Pitchers AJ Wetsch, Johnny Sapa and Walburn together tossed a shutout game, leading Whitefish to a 4-0 win.

The offense got going in the third when Sapa hit a leadoff single to center. Matt Lagrandeur walked, followed by Brian FauntLeRoy laying down a perfect bunt to load the bases. Two passed balls allowed Sapa and Lagrandeur to score for a 2-0 lead. Joey Walp then walloped a solid RBI base hit to left field scoring FauntLeRoy.

Whitefish flashed the leather in the top of the fourth after Columbia Falls loaded the bases. Logan Freeman was solid behind the plate knocking down pitches and tagging a runner out at home.

In the bottom of the fourth, Walburn singled to left field and May hit an RBI standup double to right to cap off the night's scoring.

The city of Whitefish will host the U-11 State Tournament at Smith Fields on July 16-19.